RESEARCH COORDINATING COUNCIL

Memorandum 143

September 19, 2002

Members Present: Sean Anderson, John Bennion, Alok Bhushan, Phil Blick, Steve Byers, Deb Easterly, Janet Higgins for Kay Flowers, Larry Ford, Edwin House (presiding), Greg Green, Pamela Park, Neill Piland, Kris Robinson, Thomas Windholz for Keith Weber, Brian Williams, Dan Wolfley

Members Absent/Excused: Curtis Anderson, Frank Harmon, Dianne Horrocks, Richard Inouye, Skip Lohse, Subbaram Naidu, Paul Zelus

Dr. House asked the Council members to introduce themselves and state which area they represent. Following introductions, Dr. House declared a quorum was present. He then described the background, function, and reporting lines of the Council and the other research committees that report to this Council.

I. It was MSC (10y,0n) to approve Memorandum #142.

II. A. Faculty Research Committee – Dr. Bennion reported that the call for proposals has been distributed and the deadline is November 4. The committee will convene prior to Thanksgiving break and has a budget of $72,000 this year.

B. Graduate Student Research and Scholarship Committee – Dr. House explained the function of this committee, which is to review research proposals submitted by graduate students and make awards, and also make the recommendations to student senate for the ASISU scholarships for graduate students. Last spring this committee awarded 5 of the 6 proposals received for travel funds at $150 each and awarded a total of $9,750 for 15 of the 27 research proposals received.

C. Undergraduate Research Committee – Dr. Green reported that the call for proposals was submitted to the Office of Research yesterday and it has a November 4 deadline. Dr. Green reported that new members are Deb Larson from the College of Technology, Maureen Brandon from Biological Sciences, and Ellen Rogo from Health Professions. The committee is still short one member.

D. Humanities/Social Sciences Research Committee – Dr. House reported that the status of this committee is the same as last spring. The call for proposals is usually sent out about this time and this committee has an $80,000 budget this year.

E. University Research Committee – Dr. House reported that this committee has a $72,000 budget this year and it awarded 6 of the 12 proposals received last spring. A list of those funded will be distributed to the Council at the next meeting.

F. Federal Initiatives – Dr. House reported that the process for the next round of federal initiatives starts this month. Dr. Ford will be sending out the request to solicit new proposals. The final list will be completed in late February or early March in order to get those items into the federal budget cycle. Each proposal is usually two or three pages of narrative plus a budget. Presentations are made to our lobbying firm, and additional information is requested, if needed. The proposals are reviewed and pared down internally, then put into a booklet format to present to the Congressional delegation. This year ISU packaged ideas under the umbrella “research center.” The first year ISU received $3.7 million, the second year $6.5 million, and this year ISU will receive $5 million that we know of. The goal was $10 million, so hopefully there will be some additional funding, but that is unknown at this time.

Dr. Ford reported that the federal budget year begins October 1. If the appropriations are not complete, then there is a continuing resolution until the budget is done. This year none of the appropriations bills have gone to conference yet. President Bush is willing to meet with leadership until March but would like to have the defense bill done as soon as possible. ISU has $3 million in this one—six items that are Department of Defense only. ISU could start receiving some of these funds anywhere from early summer to late fall of 2003. The federal initiative process is a long process but has significant reward.

G. RTSEF – Dr. Lawson funded all three of the proposals recommended by this Council for Release Time to Seek External Funding.

H. New Accelerator Center Building – The demands on the Idaho Accelerator Center are expanding exponentially. As a result, President Bowen has received approval from the Governor to use money originally a part of our 4.5% holdback to build another building that will be part of the Idaho Accelerator Center. This Center will likely have an $8-10 million operating budget.

I. Center for Motion Analysis – The Rhodes building was rejected as a site for this center by ISU’s president and academic vice president due to other pressing needs. The administration is looking for another location.

J. Dr. Ford mentioned that the INRA Subsurface Science Symposium will be held the second week of October in Boise. ISU has several awardees who will be presenting at the Symposium. Dr. Ford encouraged Council members and their constituents to attend. Information can be found on the web at www.inra.org.

Deb Easterly reported on the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) summer stipend program. Each university is allowed to submit two proposals. We received four proposals and two were selected. Dr. Ford reported that although this is very competitive, there is a good chance of funding if selected to go forward.

III. Council Business

A. Research Committee Budgets - Dr. House reported that the main research budget was reduced by $150,000, so research committee budgets had to be reduced as a result—reflecting the 10% budget reduction. The budgets for the Graduate Student Research and Scholarship Committee and the Undergraduate Research Committee increased slightly because of funding under a National Science Foundation grant.

B. Clinical Research Issue: Paying patients to participate in a research project, maintain confidentiality and meeting IRS requirements. This issue arose because it is sometimes necessary to pay participants in order to get them to participate in clinical research. Because the IRS requires a social security number for tracking income, this violates the confidentiality required. The University of Wyoming uses a number to track participants, and this number is maintained in a confidential manner. Dr. Piland said addressing this issue is a work in progress, with a question of exactly when Form 1099 is required. Currently an income level of $600 annually is used as a threshold for requiring a 1099. There should be a significant number of precedents for this because NIH and pharmaceutical companies will have to comply. Dr. House informed the Council that it is the responsibility of the University’s Human Subjects Committee to make sure everything is done appropriately.

C. RTSEF – Dr. House reported that Dr. Lawson suggested that the guidelines for the RTSEF competition be rewritten so that indirect cost is not a requirement. The Council informed Dr. House that the guidelines did not have any statement about indirect cost being a requirement.

D. Dr. Ford encouraged everyone to return the HIPAA survey that had been sent out. HIPAA is an acronym for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

Dr. House reported that the Evaluation Guidelines and Procedures for Research Faculty had been approved by the Faculty Senate and also by the Academic Vice President at Deans’ Council.

Dr. House requested that Council members bring agenda items forward for future meetings.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m.